This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Navigation systems, such as those installed in vehicles including automobiles, are known in the art but are not without their share of limitations. One limitation exists because vehicle navigation systems contain a large amount of map data that must be viewed at a prescribed map scale, such as a relatively large scale (e.g. 1 inch=700 feet (213.4 meters)), to make the map data, such as residential streets and corresponding residential street names, legible on a display to a map viewer. This is a limitation because when the navigation system user wants to view map data on a different area of the map, such as a map area that is not presently viewable on the display, the user must change the map scale to a relatively small scale (e.g. 1 inch=0.25 mile (1,320 feet or 402.3 meters)), to reveal a relatively large map area on the display, which contains no map details except for major highway roads for instance, and then scroll or pan toward the specific area desired to be viewed. Thus, upon the user scrolling to an area that is desired to be viewed, the user must again change (i.e. zoom) the map scale to a large map scale (e.g. 1 inch=700 feet) to confirm the area or point of interest that the user desires to view. If the area, upon enlarging the scale, reveals itself as not the area intended to view, the user must change the map scale again to a small map scale (e.g. 1 inch=0.25 mile (1,320 feet or 402.3 meters)) and scroll the map in an effort to find the desired map area. Such operations zoom-in and zoom-out operations must be continued until the user finds the area or point of interest on the map.
What is needed then is a navigation system that does not suffer from the above limitations.